Vehicle turn indicating equipment



Oct. 14, 1958 J. J. SPICER, JR

VEHICLE TURN INDICATING EQUIPMENT Original Filed Aug. 25, 1955 2Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR 904 J 5m BY ATTORNEY6 Oct. 14, 1958 J. J.SPICER, JR

VEHICLE TURN INDICATING EQUIPMENT Original Filed Aug. 25, 1955 2Sheets-Sheet 2 J INVENTOR ydA w fpda BY )4 W4 ATTORNEYS United ratesPatent Q VEHICLE TURN INDICATING EQUIPMENT John I. Spicer, Jr.,Philadelphia, Pa., assignor, by mesne assignments, to United SpecialtiesCompany of Illinois, a corporation of Delaware Original applicationAugust 25, 1955, Serial No. 530,556.

Divided and this application November 22, 1957, Serial No. 698,292

1 Claim. (Cl. 200-865) This invention relates in general to vehicle turnindicating equipment and, in particular, relates to means actuable by anoperator to initiate a turn signal. This application is a division of mycopending. application Serial No. 530,556, filed August 25, 1955, nowPatent No. 2,846,533 issued August 5, 1958.

Many vehicles such as passenger cars and trucks are provided withmechanism adapted to flash signal lights on the front and rear of thevehicle when a turn is to be made either in the left or right-handdirection. Such equipment. may include in general certain electricalcomponents making up the circuits of the system, a switch forinterconnecting certain of the circuits to cause the desired flashing,together with mechanical means actuable by the driver to operate theswitch. The present invention is concerned with the latter mentionedportion of such equipment and, in its preferred form, is concerned withthe combination of a switch and the means for actuating the same. Theapparatus of the invention is adapted to be actuated by the foot of thevehicle operator and is of the non-self-cancelling type.

It is one object of the invention to provide for a vehicle turnindicating system, a signal initiating. device to be connected with thefloor board of a vehicle and actuated by the foot of an operator, thedevice having a structure adapted to protect a switch associatedtherewith from contact with foreign matter often times present in andabout the vehicle floor board.

Another object of the invention is to provide for a vehicle turnindicating system, a strong, rugged, foot-operated signal initiatingdevice whose parts can be made by drawing and stamping operations and,therefore, be inexpensive to produce.

Certain other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparentfrom the following description and drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 11 of Figure 2 withthe device appearing in elevation;

Figure 2 is a plan view of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged plan section of the-switch unit of the device astaken on the line 33 of Figure 4;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 44 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a longitudinal section of a modification;

Figure 6 is an end view of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a plan view of Figure 5.

In Figure 1 I have shown a housing 1 which is adapted to be secured tothe floor board 2 of a vehicle as by the screws 3-3 and has shoulders 4and 5, to which is secured a bracket 6 as by the screws 1010. Thebracket 6 is adapted to support a switch S.

The top portion 11 of the housing is substantially flat, the centralpart 12 thereof being raised and provided with an elongated slot 13. Itwill be observed that the housing 1, as mounted on the floor board, isentirely closed except for the slot 13.

An actuating member generally indicated by 14 has a hollow post 15disposed in the slot 13 and a substan- Fatented Oct. 14, 1.958

tially flat slider portion 16 having bosses 1717 bearing against theunderside of top portion 11. The opposite ends of the slider are bentdownwardly as. indicated at 20 and 21.

The switch S has an operating stud 22, which extends through anelongated slot 23 in the bracket 6 (Figure 2) and upwardly (Figure 1)into the hollow post 15. A washer 24 disposed over the stud 22 rests onthe bracket 6 and is disposed at the mouth of the hollow. post 15. Aspring 25 bears between the washer and the top of the post 15 andoperates to urge the slider portion 16 up against the top portion 11 ofthe housing. The purpose of the washer is to transmit motion as betweenthe stud and post and to provide a bearing surface for the spring. Asindicated in Figure 4, the hole 26 in the washer which receives the studis somewht oversized to provide fora slight tipping motion of the,washer, as is. indicated by the numeral 27 in Figure 8.

As will be commented on more in detail later, the position of the stud22 controls the. manner in which the switch S operates to interconnectcircuits of the turn indicating system. When the stud is moved to theletter right as viewed in Figure 1, the switch effects the flashing oflights to indicate a left turn or a right turn as the case may be. Thestud may be moved to the left or right by movement of the post. InFigure l the post 15 is shown in a neutral or center position and isadapted to be engaged by the foot of the operator and moved to the leftor right for the purpose of initiating the desired turn signal.

When the post is moved, say, to the right as indicated in Figure 1 bythe dotted lines 28, the bent over portion 20 of the slider 16 is forcedupwardly by the spring 25 into the detent or recess 30 provided by. theraised portion 12. When the post is moved to the left, the bent overportion 21 engages the detent or recess. 31. In either position, thepost is releasably held in position and the foot may be disengaged fromthe post. When the turn is completed and the post is to be returned toneutral, the top of the post is slightly depressed with the foot, whichmoves the bent over portion out of its corresponding detent and the postis automatically returned to neutral as is explained following.

The portion of the housing just above the ledges 4 and 5, together withthe bent over portions 20 and 21, can be arranged to accommodate returnsprings respectively disposed therebetween. I prefer, however, thatthereturn spring or springs be an integral part of the switch S. One typeof switch ideally suited for such a purpose is disclosed in my copendingapplication, now abandoned, Serial No. 352,481, filed May 1, 1953,entitled, Switch for an Automobile Turn Indicating System, and assignedto the assignee of the present invention. This switch will be describedbriefly below for an understanding of its'return operation.

As seen in Figures 3 and 4, the switch has an enclosure or a housing 32channel-shaped in cross section with the upper part 33 being narrowerthan the lower part 34 (also see Figure 2). The top of the housing hasan elongated slot 35 which, as seen in Figure 4, is just below the slot23 in the bracket 6. Both of these slots accommodate the stud 22 andalso expose the interior of the switch. At the opposite ends of the slot35 are abutments and 41. Within the housing is a carrier 42 having aslot 43 in which is disposed a spring 44. When the switch is in neutralposition (centered as between the abutments 40 and 41), the spring isexpanded and bears on these abutments. On the top of the carrier is aslider 45, to which is secured the stud 22. The slider has slots and 51rvhizh permit it to be moved past either abutment 40 or 41. The ends ofthe slider are arranged to overlie th6 3 ends of the carrier and theends of the spring as indicated at 52 and 53 in Figure 3.

When the stud 22 is moved to the right, the left-hand end of the sliderpulls the carrier to the right and grabs the spring and compresses thesame against the abutment 41. This is shown in Figure 4. The slidermoves past the abutment 41 by virtue of the slot 51 and the carrier alsomoves past this abutment by virtue of the slot 43. In this position, ifthe force on the stud 22 is released, the spring 44 will cause theslider, stud and carrier to move back to the neutral or center position.The same type of action obtains if the stud is moved from neutral to theleft-hand side.

The housing 34 of the switch is provided with an insulated base 54,which has a plurality of fixed terminals generally indicated by thenumerals 55. As seen in Figure 4, these fixed terminals are generallyflush with the one side of the base and extend therethrough to theoutside, where they are adapted to be connected to the various circuitsmaking up the turn indicating system. The carrier is provided withbridging contacts generally indicated by the numerals 56-56. As fullyexplained in the above-mentioned copending application, when the switchis in the neutral position, the bridging contacts intercon- .nectcertain of the fixed terminals, and when the switch is moved to eitherthe left or right settable position, the bridging contacts interconnectcertain of the fixed terminals for the purpose of indicating a turnsignal.

As has been mentioned heretofore, it is important in foot-operated turnsignal devices to keep foreign matter out of the switch associatedtherewith in order to prevent the switch contacts being rendered whollyor partially inoperative or the switch otherwise damaged. Theabovedescribed structure accomplishes this objective, as will beapparent from the following.

The bosses 17-17 on the slider 16 are shown somewhat exaggerated in sizeand, in practice, are made relatively small, for example, in the orderof a few thousandths of an inch, so that the slider is just slightlyspaced from the underside of the portion 11. The slider is kept in thespaced condition by the action of spring 25. Also, the extent to whichthe raised portion 12 protrudes outwardly from the portion 11 issomewhat exaggerated. The foregoing arrangement, although providing formove ment of the slider and post, makes for a close fit between the topof the slider and the underside of the portion 11. Further, it will beapparent from an inspection of Figure 2 that the slider portion coversan area much greater than that of the switch and, more particularly,that of the slot 35, which exposes the interior of the switch.

The close fit between the slider 16 and the portion 11 as abovementioned provides an arrangement which is highly resistant to the entryof dust or dirt. Coupled with this is the fact that the slider portionfonns a protective area about the slot 23. Thus, even if foreign matterfound its way through the space between the slider and the portion 11,it would merely drop into the housing 1 and be prevented from droppinginto the slot 23 due to the protective cover of the slider.

In Figures 5, 6 and 7 I have shown an embodiment which is adapted to fitin a recess into the floor board of the vehicle, and in which thedetenting means for holding the switch in a settable position are notused.

The switch has a housing 60, the top portion 61 of which issubstantially flat and has an elongated slot 62. The housing also isprovided with a peripheral lip 63. Another housing 64 has a peripherallip 65, which is connected with lip 63 as by the screws 66-66 and alsomounts the bracket 67 supporting the switch S, the bracket being securedas by the screws 6868, which may be adaptedto secure the unit to thevehicle floor board. The actuating member for the switch includes thepost 69 and slider 70, together with the washer 71 and spring 72, whichare arranged similarly as heretofore described.

In this embodiment, when the post 69 is moved to the leftor right-handposition to energize the respective lights for indicating a turn, thefoot must remain in contact with the post until the turn is completed.Then the foot is released and the switch returns to neutral position ina manner previously described.

I claim:

A foot-operated device for a vehicle turn signal system comprising: afirst housing, one side of which is open, a lip extending around theopening and the side opposite the opening being substantially flat andhaving an elongated slot; a second housing, one side of which is open, alip extending around the opening and the respective lips of the twohousings engaging one another; a turn signal control switch mounted insaid housings and including an enclosure and a movable member adapted tobe moved as between a neutral and two turn indicating positions andhaving an operating stud connected therewith; an actuating member forthe switch comprising a hollow post extending outwardly through saidslot to be contacted by the foot of the vehicle operator and asubstantially flat slider portion slidably engaging the underside offirst said flat side, the slider having an area larger than said slotwhereby to close said slot when the movable member is in any of saidpositions and the switch being disposed beneath the slider whereby theslider forms a protective cover therefor; a washer disposed on said studslidably engaging said enclosure and extending into and engaging saidhollow post; and a spring in said hollow post and bearing on said washerand said post and urging said slider portion into said engagement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,374,873 McDonald, Ir. May 1, 1945 2,425,985 Bloomberg Aug. 19, 19472,464,184 Pierce Mar. 8, 1949 2,528,115 Clayton Oct. 31, 1950 2,550,145Geci Apr. 24, 1951

